The advent of compact mobile computing devices that utilize a touch screen user interface has highlighted the need for an improved means of carrying them about while operating them. For example: in addition to their telephony functions, “Smart Phones” such as the Apple iPhone™ or the HTC Desire™ include a touch screen and Graphical User Interface. However the cell phone's inherently small size makes it difficult for a user to fully interact with the device's sophisticated software functions, particularly ones that require typing onto a virtual keyboard displayed on its tiny touch screen. It's quite difficult to actuate keys on these tiny “virtual keyboards” and virtually impossible to rapidly touch-type on them using both hands.
In order to operate such a Smart Phone, it must be held in one hand while being operated by the other hand and this ergonomic constraint limits its utility as a general-purpose mobile computer. To remediate the Smart Phone's lack of ergonomic efficiency, larger “Pad-Computers”, also known as “tablet computers”, have been introduced, examples of which are the Apple iPad™, the Motorola Xoom™ and the “Asus Eee Pad™. Such Pad-Computers (also referred to below as simply “P-Cs”) have touch screens that are substantially larger than those of a smart phone. This greatly facilitates both data input and data visualization.
The Pad-Computer's relatively large touch screen is rectangular with a size and aspect ratio comparable to that of a typical printed page. To fully exploit its rectangular touch screen, a P-C typically has an internal accelerometer or gravity sensor that measures the touch screen's vertical orientation and automatically reorients its displayed data for correct viewing in either “portrait orientation” or “landscape orientation”. This display feature enables different software applications to automatically display data in the most appropriate upright orientation for the task at hand. For example, users can rotate their P-C so its touch screen is vertically oriented (portrait mode), thereby enabling optimal display of “pages” when reading an “Ebook”. If the user then wishes to edit a text document, they can rotate their PC screen through 90 degrees into horizontal orientation (landscape mode) and the Pad-Computer's word processing software will automatically display a large virtual keyboard along the bottom of the touch screen to facilitate the task.
The P-C's landscape-oriented virtual keyboard is typically large enough for the user to touch-type rapidly using both hands however in order to do so, the P-C must first be supported at an appropriate angle and position with respect to the use; typically, the P-C is supported on a horizontal surface such as a tabletop however the user's lap may also suffice as a support surface. Without such an external support surface and stand, the user is forced to hold their P-C with one hand while slowly typing with the other hand.
A further impediment to mobile use of the P-C is that there's a substantial risk of dropping it due to its smooth tablet-like shape which makes it difficult to grasp securely without obscuring the data display. To address these problems, a variety of tabletop computer stands (such as Yamada U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,135) can be used to provide the necessary tabletop support for a P-C so that it can be used more effectively. However, the use of such a stand will still force the user to sit at a desk while working and this defeats the purpose of using such a small computer that would otherwise be well-suited for mobile use.
To enable true mobility during two-handed operation and/or hands-free viewing of a P-C's touch screen, it could be “worn” by the user as they walk about using a harness that suspends the P-C at an optimal location and orientation in front of their abdomen. A variety of prior art harness devices are somewhat adaptable to this mobile usage mode: e.g. Morde (U.S. Pat. No. 1,542,163) provides a hands free platform that could emulate the function of a tabletop as described above and thereby facilitate optimal mobile use of a Pad-Computer.
Similar harnessed platform configurations are disclosed by Bourque (U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,114), Saner (U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,096, Lee (U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,864), Maddali (U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,127) and Baranoski (U.S. Pat. No. 7,780,049). In particular Lee (U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,864) provides a body hanging member in the form of a neck strap and a hinged U-shaped propping unit for separating the portable computer from the user's body in which this strap may be connected either to the computer or to the arms of the propping unit. However the propping unit, amongst other things cannot be swung completely past both transverse edges of the computer, lacks a facility for supporting the computer at multiple discrete orientations and does not provide for the hanging strap to be connected to allow the computer to assume both near-balanced and pendulous orientations.
It is the goal of the present invention to provide a wearable P-C carrier that eliminates many of the above mentioned drawbacks.
The invention in its general form will first be described, and then its implementation in terms of specific embodiments will be detailed with reference to the drawings following hereafter. These embodiments are intended to demonstrate the principle of the invention, and the manner of its implementation. The invention in its broadest and more specific forms will then be further described, and defined, in each of the individual claims which conclude this Specification.